Our First Rendezvous - a Week on Lake Champlain.

by Rani Chadowitz

By & By at Valcour

Being the smallest,oldest, and most people per square foot boat gave us
special status, not to mention our doing this for the first time! "By & By"
was the only blue boat, and the one always draped with drying clothes and
towels. Our kids were the oldest, at 10 and 16.

The start was difficult,
getting accustomed to the tight quarters,having to put away sleeping stuff,
for example,before we could eat because the table was a bed, learning to
navigate and read a chart(for me), and to all being together all the
time....and banging our heads, elbows, whatever in the cabin. And I
eventually realized that it's not so much heeling which frightens me, but
unpredictability in maneuvers.

Then we started to have fun: meeting the sailors on the other 12, 13, 14?
boats, trying to keep cool in the water and on the boat(buckets of lake
water over your head were delicious!).
We lost a bucket one day, and soberly
realized we need to practice our "man-overboard" maneuvers better...

The Kazoo Brigade at Sonja and Franks

A row
of sailboats moored/anchored alongside made for camaraderie, and we all
became very good at looking out for one another. But we weren't prepared to
brave the mosquitoes even for the campfires and singing. The kids had fun
hanging out in the water and so did the adults! Later in the week, at Frank
and Sonja's, we got to enjoy the music: two guitars(Bill and Carol), penny
whistle(Carol Noyes), fiddle (Bob), wooden spoons and harmonica. Oh, and the
4-5 kazoos played by the kids.

Deep Bay may have been full of mosquitoes, but with our full cockpit
netting, we never noticed.They found us well enough when we did venture out,
or when they did sneak into the cabin at night in spite of the netting.

No mosquitoes will get me

Ask
Revi, she got covered in bites! But at Deep Bay, the dinghy made for fun
exploring of the beach, the cool water was deliciously refreshing, and there
was time to play our mbira instruments.

Burton Island remains as a memory of heat, picnic with everyone, including
the dogs, and another beautiful sunset.

Then there was the day we were trying to anchor off Valcour Island and each
one of us in succession tried to winch up the keel for the shallow 2 feet of
water, and it got to a certain point (oh, down still around 4 feet) and it
wouldn't winch any further! Jack put on his dive mask and went down for a
look:

The Chadowitz's picnicking on Burton Island

was the keel broken, distorted?? What was that misshapen thing down
there?! He went down for another look, this time with the keel all the way
down, and it was a log: 3 feet long and a good 4 inches around! Wedged in
the keel where the cable comes through. He managed to pull it out and
sailing was so much easier after that. We couldn't figure out for the
previous 3 days why the boat seemed to have a mind of it's own and just
wouldn't respond easily. That evening at Valcour, we felt we didn't need any
manmade fireworks: a thunderstorm accompanied by spectacular lightning,
passed by, lingering for long enough into the night to compete with the
fireflies and stars.

It was interesting running before the storm, leaving Valcour and making our
way,sailing when the winds were good, motoring when they died, as fast as
we could to Mallet's Bay for the fireworks later that evening.

Sunset at Sonja and Frank's

That
thunderstorm cloud seemed to always be right behind us, but we managed to
outrun it. When it caught up with us after we had anchored, breakfast/lunch
(we had packed and left Valcour with 15 minutes' notice, a minor miracle for
By&By and crew)became a wet affair in the cockpit, with the rain pouring
down our backs as our shade/rain shelter didn't quite make it beyond the
sides of the boat!

We didn't know which way to look for the fireworks, there were so many
options from where we stayed anchored in the north cove. The most
spectacular ended up being right in front, in the vicinity of Clair's bay.

Next day, we all decided to meet up at Frank and Sonja's who live on
Mallet's Bay, rather than cope with 20-mile-an-hour Northwest winds to
Willsboro for dinner and back on Saturday. A caravan of cars pulled up
outside their house, several boats went up the creek(without a paddle), and
we all brought food and instruments and good cheer.The storm came back for a
final goodby that evening, but we still managed to have a magnificent
sunset.

I have so many lasting memories of this unbelievable week, I can't focus on
a single one as best (or worst!). But Jack, Revi, Cheni ,and I did come away
with a strong feeling of having become part of a group of unique people, and
wanting to do it all over again next year!